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| Slaughterday |
 Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:28 pm |
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Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 1681
Location: Athlone
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| Have you tried any polymer engineering companies? |
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| thunderdrummer |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:44 pm |
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Joined: 01 Oct 2009
Posts: 221
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To answer your question in a short answer, I haven't.
There is online system that you have to go through and jobs are advertised on that. You click if you are interested and the employer looks through your CV and will request an interview if they like your CV. Some of these companies would manufacture plastics and rubbers, but I can only apply for what comes through the system unless they are a foreign company and so far there has been nothing in that area. On the off chance I don't get something here I've been researching companies as far away as Canada and have been seeing if they offer placements to ungrads. |
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| robertlanders |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:48 pm |
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Joined: 25 Nov 2010
Posts: 163
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| I have a BA in English and an MA in philosophy, now I live off my girlfriend in Canada. Arts degrees are a fucking waste of time, do something useful with your life. |
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| Shunyata |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:58 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 1436
Location: Let's get fucked up
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Anyone thinking that Biological Sciences (and sub-fields) are a guaranteed ticket to success have probably being partaking a bit too often of the botanical department's extracurricular activities.
Your research project(s), supervisor(s) and whether you leave university with a publication or not (yes, even before PhD level) are all just as important as your actual grades. This is of course also assuming you're attending a university that doesn't immediately make the strength of your degree questionable.
Your specialisation is one of the most important things you can select - and will be further defined at PhD level should you go on to it. Even if you only aspire to be an eternal post-doc doing comfortably, and performing similar, ritualistic experiments every day.
And as you proceed, you realise academia is quite literally a system that you pass through, and come out knowing more about less. Try to keep reading about all the things you've ever been involved in, check what's new in the field you did that honours project in, aeons ago etc. You don't want to be that guy who's literally only able to converse with people in exactly the same field. |
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| John Kimble |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:00 pm |
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Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 779
Location: Cork
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I graduated from UCC with a Degree in Applied Psychology, didn't enjoy the whole college experience and found the course a bit of a struggle. Because of this, I changed direction completely and did a MSC in Multimedia Technology. Again, the course wasn't what I had expected or hoped, and I muddled through. All of this to get a job in the public service which, at entry level, has very basic educational requirements.
I'm not sure of how it is today but back in the late 90's when I did the leaving certificate, going to a University was considered the only way to go. I appreciated that, often unfairly, arts is seen as an easy target but I think based on my own experience, it's often taken by those who haven't really thought about what they really want to do. I know plenty of people who left university after a year or two to pursue trades, and were much happier for it.
Another consideration is that many good companies (also the public sector) will actively encourage employees to take up study, going as far as to sponsor or subsidize this. |
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| nev_crucifracture |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:30 pm |
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Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 716
Location: kilkenny / Out the drummer
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I just finished My masters in Mechanical and Manufacturing engineering in DCU and did my degree in mech eng in UCD..
The four years of engineering were tough. Mainly due to work and partying, so looking for a job with a 2.2 degree was troublesome enough.. For my masters I knuckled down and saw barely a scrap of sunlight for the summer, but it was definitely worth it getting brilliant final grade and having a thesis with the possibility of publication.
I've had a fair few interviews so far with no luck yet but there are definatley jobs in the Mech eng sector in Ireland. Time will tell anyway. |
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| Zomboidgirl |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:14 pm |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 3774
Location: Belfast
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Quote: Anyone thinking that Biological Sciences (and sub-fields) are a guaranteed ticket to success have probably being partaking a bit too often of the botanical department's extracurricular activities.
well as some one that took that degree i'll tell you now - i wasn't on drugs. i went to a school that actually promoted that particular course so instead of taking anatomy (as i stated earlier) i too biological sciences as a degree becasue at the time it was a new course and being promoted as something better than anything else i was looking at. so you can take your assumption and shove it, i dont take drugs and i was going on the advice of my so called piers and it turned out shit. |
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| alsvartr666 |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:32 pm |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 1878
Location: Belfast
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I've always wanted to teach as I've a passion for literature and the written word in general.
I studied a BA Honours English at Queen's University, Belfast. It was a good course, but the general vibe around Queen's is poor. I wouldn't recommend it as a university that offers a holistic education.
The reading in my course was very thorough, and I'll concede that if you wanted to work, it was there. If you didn't want to work, you stayed in the bar.
I also gained a PGCE in English from Queen's University School of Education. It is, essentially, a crash course in educational theory and practice, and is more grounded than someone studying a BEd: a pointless exercise in my view.
Nevertheless, the education system in Northern Ireland is being torn to shreds by sheer incompetency and a top heavy public sector management. I'm currently tutoring a shit course for good money on part-time hours, but it has tested my patience. I have considered applying for a graduate accountancy scheme, as the education sector (and the jobs available therein) in this country will get far worse, before it gets better. |
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| Shunyata |
| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:48 pm |
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Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Posts: 1436
Location: Let's get fucked up
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Zomboidgirl wrote: well as some one that took that degree i'll tell you now - i wasn't on drugs. i went to a school that actually promoted that particular course so instead of taking anatomy (as i stated earlier) i too biological sciences as a degree becasue at the time it was a new course and being promoted as something better than anything else i was looking at. so you can take your assumption and shove it, i dont take drugs and i was going on the advice of my so called piers and it turned out shit.
You're misinterpreting my point. A lot of people seem to think that merely sitting through a physical/hard science puts them in a better spot than anyone doing an arts or humanities subject by default. It's not necessarily true, and in fact, depending on how and where they go through the system, they may end up in less advantageous position.
I'm sorry to hear you were misinformed by advisers and peers, and it's a situation that is far from uncommon (eg. Molecular and Cellular Biology used to be quite a rigorous degree, but is now seen in quite less favourable light in most universities). |
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| Taranis |
| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:25 am |
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 1899
Location: Inis, An Clár/Cambridge, UK/Heidelberg, Germany
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A lot of Arts bashing going on here, but I'm used to it at this stage. I know plenty of wasters who were passengers on degree courses right across the academic spectrum. That said, there probably are a few extra passengers in Arts, but there are plenty of hard working people too who go on and do great things. As for the point about lecturers, the actual lecturing side of things is only a small part of it, what you actually are is a professional researcher that occasionally does some teaching. Also, as John already said, Arts graduates can end up in all kinds of high level jobs, outside the academy. You do need to work hard though to rise above the rest, as there is a lot of competition, but that can be said of any area these days.
As for me, I did Chem/Maths/Phys in UCC in 1999/2000, dropped out and got some life experience then. I went back to university at 25, did a BA in Archaeology/History at NUIG, An Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge ag NUIG, a HDip in Sociology and Sociological Research Methods (like a second degree), an research MPhil in archaeology at Cambridge and I'm now doing a PhD in a mixture of archaeology, history, sociology and geography at Cambridge. I've been sensible and clocked up the hours getting valuable experience though, I've worked two summers as a professional civil servant as an archaeologist, done loads of digging, and now I'm doing as much teaching as I can. You have to. I've had nothing but good experiences so far, I've gotten every single job I've applied for since I started my degree in 2005, and it's only upwards from here, even though there'll be savage competition for research posts etc. once I'm finished, I'm still pretty confident. |
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| TemplarOfSteel |
| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 8:42 am |
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Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 7237
Location: High Above The Rolling Waves, In Labyrinths Of Coral Caves...
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| I have a BA in Hispanic Studies, and I was lucky enough to get a job related to my degree 2 months after I graduated. Didn't have to cut my hair either. Bashing the Arts degrees doesn't surprise me - but I don't agree. I only had 6 or 7 hours of actual class a week, but add to that about 25 hours of private study a week and it does become quite the endeavour. |
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| PatrickReborn |
| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:14 am |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 2167
Location: Castlebar/Galway
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In my final year doing Single Honours History in NUIG... Dissertation this year, it's gonna rock balls!  |
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| Padre Pio |
| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 9:36 am |
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Joined: 25 May 2007
Posts: 6858
Location: The great omnipotent goat sits on the pentagram
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PatrickReborn wrote: In my final year doing Single Honours History in NUIG... Dissertation this year, it's gonna rock balls!
Cool. What are you doing your dissertation on?
History was part of my degree (European Studies in Trinity - in my final year the breakdown for me was Italian 35%, History 40%, History of Ideas 20% and French 5%)
Todether with Italian, history was my favourite part. Alas though I picked a terribly boring module in my final year: History of European Universities 1347-1610. I thought it would be interesting but most of it wasn't and the lecturer was very dull. Luckily my other history module was History of the French Far Right 1870-1945 which was fascinating. |
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| doomliadain |
| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:07 am |
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Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Posts: 135
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| I have a BA in English & Linguistics, an MA in English and an MBS in E-Business (more focused on comp sci than business), I work in IT now but I wouldn't have got the job (technical writer) without my undergrad degree. The MBS helped me to stand out from the oceans of other twentysomethings with a BA and an MA, but a degree in English/tech writing or similar was mandatory for the job when I started. ARTS 4 LIFE!!! |
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| perfectistheenemy |
| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:35 am |
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Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Posts: 118
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I have a degree in Heritage Studies and a HDip in history. I'm currently doing an M.Phil in modern Irish history at Trinity.
Plenty of arts bashing here, I initially did computer science and I fucking hated it and dropped out, I'd rather do something I actually like... |
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